Saturday, February 23rd, 2013
Suspended teacher faces more charges
By Margie Wuebker
Sex-related charges continue to mount against a suspended Fort Recovery High School teacher.
Christopher A. Summers, 33, 671 Woodland Ave., St. Henry, was served Friday afternoon with a 47-count indictment in Mercer County allegedly involving the same victim - reportedly a former student - in pending cases in Mercer and Darke counties.
The latest case, presented to Mercer County grand jurors at their Thursday session, yielded two counts each of rape and felonious assault, one count each of gross sexual imposition and attempted sexual battery and 41 counts of sexual battery. The alleged offenses range from first-degree to less serious fourth-degree felonies.
Summers, who remains under house arrest with electronic monitoring, is scheduled to make an initial appearance Feb. 27 in Mercer County Common Pleas Court.
The alleged offenses occurred between June 2010 and October 2012 - one month before grand jurors handed down the initial Mercer County indictment.
Two of the counts state that he allegedly compelled the victim to submit by force or threat of force resulting in rape charges while two other counts allege that during the summer of 2010 and again between November 2010 and March 2011 he reportedly caused or attempted to cause physical harm to the victim with a knife resulting in the felonious assault charges.
The indictment language describes the offender as a teacher, administrator, coach or other person of authority employed by or serving in a school.
Summers' other Mercer County case, which came about as a result of a November 2012 indictment, involves three counts of sexual battery, all third-degree felonies. The alleged incidents occurred in January, February and May, according to court paperwork.
He has pleaded not guilty to those charges and is to appear Feb. 27 for a pretrial hearing.
The Darke County case involves one count of sexual battery stemming from an alleged incident that occurred in Greenville last February.
His next appearance before Darke County Common Pleas Court Judge Jonathan Hein is a March 19 pretrial hearing.
Summers, who has been suspended from his teaching job without pay and benefits since late November, has a closed-door termination hearing slated for 10 a.m. March 12. Fort Recovery schools superintendent Shelly Vaughn said she will attend the meeting on behalf of board members.
Attorneys for Summers and Fort Recovery Schools will discuss the situation before an Ohio Department of Education assigned termination hearing officer, according to Vaughn.
The meeting is being held because Summers, who is married and the father of several young children, has chosen not to resign and wants to keep his job. The termination officer will make a decision.
